Lantern's Light Part One
by Two-Faced Goblin
Summary: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have trained their whole lives to master ninjitsu. But what if they were suddenly given greater power?
1. Chapter 1: Welcome to the Corps

_My name is Leonardo. As a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, I've seen a lot of strange things: interdimensional martial arts tournaments, time sceptres, and alien worlds. You'd think I'd be used to this by now, but nothing could have prepared me for what was in store for us..._

**TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES****  
><strong>**LANTERN'S LIGHT  
>PART ONE<strong>

_**Chronological note: This story takes place somewhere between the TMNT 2003 episodes "The Christmas Aliens" and "Bishop's Gambit", and between 'Brightest Day' and 'War of the Green Lanterns' in the DC Universe.**_

_**Legal note: All Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters and concepts are © Nickelodeon. All Green Lantern characters and concepts are © DC Comics. All Usagi Yojimbo characters and concepts are © Stan Sakai. I own nothing (I doubt I'm even the first to think of the idea, just the first to do it like this!).**_

* * *

><p>The people of New York were a resilient bunch. They'd weathered an invasion from alien Triceratons searching for a robot that wasn't even there (or was it? The conspiracy theorists had a field day with that one), and there were always reports of strange green men being seen around town from time to time. On the whole, when peculiar things happened, New Yorkers tended to stand up to them as best they could, then got on with their lives.<p>

If those jaded New Yorkers knew that, high above their alien-ravaged city, something extraordinary was happening, they might have been somewhat less jaded.

A shimmering hole opened up in the sky, no bigger than a coffee can, and seven small glowing objects flew through it, each a different colour of the rainbow. The glowing objects paused for a moment, as if thinking about what they would do next, then separated. Two flew off into the distance, and five made a beeline for the ground.

The five glows shot straight down, and slipped through a grate into the sewer. The glows shot down a narrow pipe before emerging into a larger chamber, startling the colony of rats making a nest there, and sending them diving for cover. The glows continued on, heedless of the scurrying rodents, following a path known only to them until they came to a brick wall. The glows paused momentarily, as if deciding their next move, then headed for a tiny crack in the brickwork. One by one, they squeezed through a space seemingly too small for them, undaunted.

* * *

><p>Leonardo gripped his katana tightly, his eyes flicking back and forth to catch any sign of his foe. He knew the attack could come any time, and from anywhere.<p>

He was right.

A silver streak flew from the shadows, heading straight for Leonardo. He whirled, dodging the thrown sai, and deflected the sai's twin with his sword.

With a martial cry, Raphael hurled himself from his hiding place, launching a furious kick at Leonardo's head. Leonardo again dodged his brother's attack, and countered with an elbow to Raphael's shell. Raphael hit the floor face first, sliding a few metres before coming to rest near the edge of the makeshift dojo.

Leonardo couldn't resist gloating. "That was sloppy, Raph. I saw those attacks coming a mile away. The whole point of being a ninja is to be silent and unexpected."

Raphael rolled over to glare at his brother. "I got yer unexpected right here!"

His legs whipped out, catching Leonardo's ankles and sending the blue-masked turtle crashing down next to Raphael.

From his comfortable vantage point on the couch playing video games, Michelangelo couldn't help himself. He chuckled at his brothers.

"So much for that, huh, Leo? You got owned, bro!"

"Michelangelo!"

Michelangelo cringed. "Yes, Master Splinter?"

The wizened old rat stepped forward from his private chambers, looking as resplendent as a five-foot-tall rat in a tattered kimono leaning on a gnarled old stick could.

"Instead of criticising your brothers' techniques, perhaps you should be concentrating on honing your own."

Michelangelo's face split into a wide grin. "But I have been, Sensei! I'm up to my highest score ever on _Mega-Mutant Motor Racing_!"

Splinter's eyes narrowed sternly. "I meant your ninjitsu skills, my son."

"Aww, Master, do I have to?" Michelangelo whined. "I mean, I am..."

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Here we go..."

Michelangelo continued undaunted. "Battle Nexus Champion!" he crowed, striking a dramatic pose. His glory was spoiled a moment later by a pillow being thrown in his face by an unimpressed Raphael.

"How long are you gonna keep milkin' that, Mikey?" he griped. "We all know ya only won by fluke!"

"Details, details!" Michelangelo made a dismissive motion with his three-fingered hand. "You just can't stand that I'm a better ninja than you!"

Raphael's eyes flashed with anger. He dove at his smug brother, crash-tackling him to the ground. As the two turtles rolled around, Donatello finally poked his head out from under the Battle Shell, where he had been doing some long-overdue maintenance.

"Guys, watch out for the..."

But it was too late. Raphael and Michelangelo's roughhousing finally reached the bank of monitors. Raphael drove Michelangelo's shell into the base of the monitor bank, causing the whole thing to wobble dangerously.

Donatello gasped, as if something precious was in mortal danger (and to him, it was). He slid out from under the Battle Shell and hurled himself towards the monitor bank. Michelangelo shrieked in terror and concern, for he knew if the monitors fell, that was the end of his video games and cartoons for however long it took Donatello to replace them, and that was simply unacceptable.

Just as the monitor bank started to topple, Donatello stretched out, desperately trying to save the precious televisions. His bo staff wedged under the cabinet, preventing the whole thing from coming down.

Both Michelangelo and Donatello breathed a sigh of relief. Splinter eyed the whole scene with unsympathetic displeasure.

"Michelangelo, Raphael – your foolish behaviour has nearly cost us the televisions. Not only would it be difficult for Donatello to replace; if I were not able to catch up on my soap operas, I would be most disappointed."

The brothers hung their head in shame."Sorry, Master Splinter," they said in unison, the line honed through much practise over the years.

Splinter nodded once. "You seem to have far too much energy. Perhaps it would be best if you went out on patrol and wear yourselves out."

Michelangelo broke into a grin again. "Whoo-hoo! Surface time!"

Leonardo looked up from polishing his katana. "Remember, Mikey, we're not there to party. We're there to patrol the streets, and see if the Foot or the Purple Dragons are up to no good."

"Since when are they not?" Donatello quipped, easing the monitor bank back into place.

Before the Turtles could gather their weapons to leave, five glowing objects shot through a crack in the wall. The glows buzzed around like flies at a barbeque before separating and setting their sights on each of the Turtles and Splinter. The astonished mutants jerked back in surprise as each of the glows revealed themselves to be a ring.

The green ring made a beeline for Leonardo, and a deep voice intoned, "Leonardo of Earth, you have the ability to overcome great fear. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps."

Leonardo looked surprised for a moment, then his expression turned into one of absolute resolve.

The blue ring slipped over Donatello's finger, and a calm voice said, "Donatello of Earth, you have the ability to instil great hope. Welcome to the Blue Lantern Corps."

Donatello's eyes flashed with a soothing blue light, and his face took on a serene expression.

The red ring shoved itself onto Raphael's finger, and a voice with barely-contained fury growled, "Raphael of Earth, you have great rage in your heart. You belong to the Red Lantern Corps."

Raphael let out a low snarl, and promptly vomited up what looked like blood.

The indigo ring made its way to Michelangelo, and a voice that could only be described as 'understanding' spoke: "Michelangelo of Earth, you are capable of great compassion. Welcome to the Indigo Tribe."  
>Michelangelo, for his part, stared in wonder at nothing in particular. "Nok..." he said dreamily.<p>

The violet ring settled on Splinter's long, bony finger, and a female voice said to him, "Hamato Splinter of Earth, you have great love in your heart. Welcome to the Star Sapphires."

Splinter felt an intense love well up within him; love for all creatures, not just his adopted sons.

Leonardo did what he always did when something unusual happened – he turned to Donatello.

"Don, do you have any idea what these things are?"

Donatello shook his head. "Not a clue, Leo. They seem to have some sort of artificial intelligence – after all, they did seem to each choose one of us for some reason. Fascinating..."

Raphael scoffed. "Oh, that's just great. We got Invasion of the Killer Jewellery here, and Donny's playin' Mister Spock!"

With that, he vomited up another mouthful of blood. Michelangelo looked on, his brow furrowed with concern.

"You okay, Raphie? You don't look so good."

Raphael tried to snap back some withering retort, but couldn't get it out around the blood that surged from his mouth.

Michelangelo turned to his brothers and Splinter in alarm. "Raph's in trouble, guys! We gotta help him!"

Donatello looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think I can do something. Don't ask me how I know, but I think..."

The purple-masked turtle approached his brother, who was doubled over and spewing out his life's blood. The blue ring on Donatello's finger began to glow, brighter and brighter, and Raphael's furious expression slowly, but surely, calmed into his more usual sneer.

Donatello turned back to his brothers. "I think that red ring's taken over the functions of his heart, and it's been expelling his blood as a result. My ring seems to be able to calm him down, stop him getting too angry."

Leonardo turned to his sensei. "Master Splinter, why do you think these rings chose us? I mean, it just seems so...random."

Splinter shook his head gently. "Not so, my son. The rings said they chose each of us for a reason. Your will has been the driving force of your brothers, urging them and encouraging them to better themselves. The green ring has chosen you because of your willpower.

"Donatello was chosen by the blue ring because all of you put so much faith in him for devices to aid you in your battles. His technical and tactical skills inspire much hope in you all.

"Raphael...always have you struggled with your own inner demons. Your anger fuels you, but it has been a serious stumbling block for you. I fear this red ring will either finally allow you to conquer your rage, or it will consume you.

"Michelangelo, though you act the fool far too frequently, you have more compassion than either you or your brothers realise..."

Raphael wiped blood from his mouth, and sneered. "Aw, come on, Master Splinter – the only things on Mikey's mind are pizza and video games! He only got the compassion ring 'cuz there's probably no 'bonehead' ring!"

Splinter sighed, shaking his head. "No, Raphael. Think of last Christmas Eve – Michelangelo not only took in a homeless cat," he nodded at Klunk, who was watching all this with the kind of curiosity only a cat could muster, "but he ensured those toys for the orphans reached their intended destinations. Michelangelo taught us all much about concern for others that night."

Leonardo nodded, understanding. "And you've always been like a father to us, Sensei. No natural father could have loved us better than you."

Splinter nodded modestly. "Indeed. The true question is, what is the true nature of these rings?"

Donatello pulled his shell-cell from a pouch on his belt. "Maybe April can help us figure it out."


	2. Chapter 2: What the Shell Are These?

April O'Neil peered through the high-powered microscope on Donatello's workbench. She was examining the indigo ring, albeit while it was still Michelangelo's finger. For some reason, the rings refused to leave their new owners, and even Casey Jones' efforts with a crowbar were for naught. Indeed, the rings left more of an impression in the crowbar than the other way around.

Michelangelo screwed up his face. "Come on, April, how much longer are you gonna be? My finger's getting itchy!"

April looked up, blinking a few times to refocus her eyes. "Sorry, guys, these rings are beyond anything I've ever seen! They appear to be made of some kind of crystalline metal, but nothing available on Earth, as far as I know."

"Oh, terrific!" Raphael threw his hands up in frustration. "So these things come outta nowhere, shove themselves on us, an' you brainiacs can't even figure out what their deal is!"

April's mouth dropped open in shock – she knew Raphael could be rude, but he'd never been so disrespectful to her before.

"Raphael!" Splinter barked in rebuke. "You will apologise now!"

Raphael's lips curled into a snarl, but a khaki green hand laid itself on his shoulder.

"Come on, Raph – calm down, bro," Donatello said soothingly. Unnoticed by anyone, the blue ring on his finger began to glow softly.

Raphael's snarl faded, and he shook his head briskly. "April...I...I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

April smiled, albeit a little warily. "That's okay, Raph. I know it must be frustrating."

"Hey, what're these?"

Everyone turned to look at Casey Jones, who was holding a fist-size lump of metal in each hand. In his left he held a green lump, and in his right, a red one.

"Did one of Donny's inventions melt down again?" Casey quipped.

Splinter picked up another metallic lump, this one a soft indigo colour, and sniffed it.

"I believe, Mister Jones, that these may be connected with our mysterious rings."

Leonardo took the green lump from Casey, and immediately, his green ring started to glow.

"I think you're right, Master!" Leonardo gasped.

Donatello stroked his chin thoughtfully, then plucked the lump from the ground that matched his blue ring. He wiped some sewer slime from it with his wristband, then held the lump to his ring.

"Here goes nothing..."

The instant the ring came in contact with the lump, a brilliant blue light filled the lair. The lump flowed and shifted like clay being shaped by unseen hands, forming a sphere with flanges on the top and bottom, and a hooded lens on one side. Donatello's eyes flashed with blue light, and he spoke with great conviction.

"In fearful day, in raging night, with strong hearts full, our souls ignite! When all seems lost in the War of Light, look to the stars, for hope burns bright!"

The blue light around Donatello faded, and he stood clad in a black and blue skin-tight costume underneath his usual bandanna, armbands, kneepads and belt. A black belt buckle formed itself, adorned with a white circle surrounded by lines reminiscent of the shape of an elephant's ears.

Donatello shivered a little, as if someone had just walked over his grave. "Wow! What a rush!"

Leonardo was instantly at his brother's side. "Donny, are you okay?"

Donatello turned to Leonardo, a serene grin on his face. "No problem, Leo. All will be well."

Leonardo's concerned look turned to determination. He put his ring to the green lump in his hand, and a bright green light exploded from the ring.

"In brightest day, in blackest night," Leonardo recited, not quite knowing where the words were coming from, "No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"

A black and green skin-tight costume slowly appeared under Leonardo's usual garb, with white gloves and boots. On the strap over his chest that held his scabbards on his back, a white medallion appeared, emblazoned with a green circle with two green bars on the top and the bottom. The green lump in his left hand had formed itself very similarly to Donatello's blue one.

Raphael sniggered. "Nice outfits! What're you supposed be, _Cirque du Weird Rings_?"

Suddenly, Raphael's right hand jerked up towards the red lump in his left hand. An angry-looking red light burst from the ring.

"With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from a corpse so freshly dead," Raphael snarled. "Together with our hellish hate, we'll burn you all—that is your fate!"

The red light faded, and Raphael was clad in a red and black bodysuit, with red bracers and boots. In the centre of the chest was a black circle with a white design inscribed on it – a circle with two vertical protrusions on either side like horns. The ends of Raphael's bandanna looked as though a cat had been using them for a scratching post, all shredded hems and loose threads.

As Raphael vomited up more blood, Michelangelo looked at the indigo lump in his right hand.

"Cool! Lemme try!"

Michelangelo touched his ring to the lump, and an intense indigo light erupted from the ring.

"Tor lorek san, bor nakka mur. Natromo faan tornek wot ur. Ter Lantern ker lo Abin Sur. Taan lek lek nok—Formorrow Sur!"

"Aw, great," Raphael scoffed. "Mikey's makin' even less sense than usual!"

A strip of indigo shimmered into place over Michelangelo's chest, like a bib, and a studded collar clamped itself around the neckline. A similar loincloth appeared under his belt, and his wrists and ankles were wrapped in bracers and anklets, respectively. An indigo symbol – a circle with an arrow on top and bottom – appeared on his chest, and tattoos of the same symbol appeared on his upper arms. The lump in Michelangelo's hand stretched and flowed into a long staff topped with what looked like a spotlight.

Michelangelo examined the staff and frowned. "A staff? That's Donny's thing!"

As if sensing his will, the staff separated itself into four equal pieces held in pairs by small chains.

"Ha ha!" Michelangelo whipped around his new weapons with glee. "Nok-chuks!"

Finally, Splinter touched his ring to the violet lump in his hand. A dazzling violet light gushed from the ring.

"For hearts long lost and full of fright, for those alone in blackest night, accept our ring and join our fight! Love conquers all—with violet light!"

A shimmering violet costume slid itself over Splinter's hairy body, but seemed to stop a few inches from joining together along the vertical axis. The outfit seemed to stop at the top of his thighs, like a swimsuit, but knee-high boots helped cover some of the rat's hirsute legs. A small tiara capped with a gleaming gemstone settled over Splinter's brow. The overall effect was of a quite skimpy costume that left little to the imagination.

Splinter looked himself over, and shook his head. "No, this simply will not do."

His brow furrowed, and the scanty outfit began to flow and coalesce into an iridescent version of his familiar robes, albeit with a small star-like insignia on the left breast and a diamond-shaped belt.

The Turtles watching this covered their eyes modestly. Finally, Michelangelo had to say something.

"Okay, that's something I can never un-see."

A glare from Splinter prevented any further quips about his unfortunate wardrobe mishap.


	3. Chapter 3: Fear and Avarice

Unbeknownst to the Turtles and Splinter, the other two rings that had come through the shimmering hole in the sky shot straight for a tall skyscraper on the other side of town. The building was owned by one Oroku Saki, known to the world as a benevolent businessman who had recently used his vast fortune to help rebuild the city after an alien invasion. But Oroku Saki was but a mask, a facade to hide behind. For in truth, Oroku Saki was not his name.

Indeed, he wasn't even human.

The being who called himself Oroku Saki was, in fact, an alien being known as an Utrom by the name of Ch'rell. Whereas most Utroms were fairly pleasant individuals, if a little on the intellectual side, Ch'rell was vicious and mean. After being stranded on Earth several centuries before, Ch'rell had set his formidable mind to creating an empire for himself. It had taken some time, but he had risen to the unquestioned leader of the ancient ninja clan known as the Foot, and built an identity as a philanthropic entrepreneur.

His natural form was a small, red-skinned, slug-like creature with malevolent blue eyes, a cruel mouth filled with sharp teeth, and several short tentacles for locomotion. To blend in with the native humans, Ch'rell had long ago used Utrom science to construct a mechanical body for himself. When people thought they were speaking to his face, in actual fact, his real face was somewhere around where the belly ought to be.

In the last few years, Ch'rell's operations had been disrupted by four mutated terrapins and their rodent master. In his guise as the Shredder, Ch'rell had been subject to defeat after humiliating at the hands of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. While the world at large thought of him as humanitarian, the Turtles and Splinter were the only ones who knew the truth behind his motives.

The Shredder sat alone in his darkened sanctum, clad in traditional Foot Clan robes, deep in thought about how to defeat his reptilian tormentors once and for all. No, not defeat – utterly destroy.

Plans and plots flew through his devious mind when twin lights – one yellow, the other orange – burst through the wall of his private chamber. The Shredder was instantly on his feet.

"Who dares?" he bellowed. He could see no one there, but he, of all people, knew how deceiving appearances could be.

His first thought was that one (or possibly more) of the Turtles had come to challenge him to a final duel. He quickly dismissed this notion, though – by and large, the accursed reptiles were too jocular and loud-mouthed to be so stealthy, except for the one named Leonardo. Whoever this was, their stealth was impressive.

The Shredder felt something slip onto his left middle finger, and brought his hand up to investigate. A glowing yellow ring sat there, and an alarming voice spoke to him.

"Ch'rell of the Utrom homeworld, you have the ability to instil great fear. Welcome to the Sinestro Corps."

Shredder's eyes widened in astonishment, but then he felt a pressure on his right index finger. An orange ring squirmed its way onto his finger, and a sleazy-sounding voice intoned, "Ch'rell of the Utrom homeworld, you want it all. Welcome to the Orange Lantern Corps."

The Shredder stared at the glowing rings on his fingers, and a malicious smile spread across his robot body's artificial face.

His garb flowed and shifted, reshaping itself into a form of his Shredder armour, but with a yellow design rimmed in orange with three sharp triangles down the torso, orange pauldrons, boots and gauntlets with thin yellow blades. An intricate symbol materialised in the centre of his chest, imposed on the top of the Three-Toed Sign of the Dragon that was the emblem of the Foot Clan.

Yellow and orange light burst from the Shredder's hooded eyes, and he spoke in chilling tones.

"The power...the power!"


	4. Chapter 4: They Do What Now?

Over the next week, the Turtles learned how to use their new rings. Naturally, Donatello and April were fascinated by the difference between the five rings' abilities.

Leonardo quickly worked out his ring could create hard-light constructs from green energy if he concentrated hard enough – everything from shields to energy beams to katana. The ring seemed to generate a constant force field around him, protecting him from mortal harm (a feature tested more than once by Raphael when his rage got the better of him).

Donatello's ring seemed to be less offensive and more defensive. His very presence near Raphael seemed to calm the raging reptile, while simultaneously recharging Leonardo's green ring. While his ability to create constructs was not quite up to that of the green ring, Donatello found he was still able to create energy beams and defensive shields, as well as the ability to heal wounds and reinvigorate things long thought past their use-by date. Donatello found this last feature most appealing, particularly when he realised he could use his ring to revive several batteries and light bulbs long thought done for. Michelangelo's pleas for him to resurrect mouldering slices of pizza abandoned long ago went unheeded.

Raphael's ring seemed the most savage and brutal of the five. Only through intense concentration could he create constructs of red energy, but they were much less elaborate than Leonardo's. Still, with practise, Raphael managed to hone his red plasma into a form approximating his customary sai. The strangest thing about his new abilities was that the blood he threw up on occasion was incredibly corrosive, and could only be extinguished with energy from Donatello's blue ring. A cursory scan of Raphael's body showed that the ring had taken over the functions of the turtle's heart, pumping caustic red fluid around his body (and occasionally out of his mouth). Raphael's angry disposition seemed to have been heightened by the red ring's influence – he'd never been the calm, rational sort, but now he had a hair-trigger temper that could go off at the slightest provocation. Only Donatello's calming blue energy, and occasionally Splinter's violet light, could calm him down to rationality again.

Michelangelo's indigo ring could also heal wounds, like Donatello's. The ring seemed to be influencing Michelangelo's temperament as much as the red ring influenced Raphael's, but instead of encouraging him to become angrier, the ring made Michelangelo far more empathetic and understanding than ever. Instead of teasing his red-ringed brother, goading him into a blind rage just for laughs, Michelangelo looked at Raphael's paroxysms with brotherly concern. The part of Michelangelo's new abilities he really liked was when he discovered he could absorb and copy energy from the other power rings. Leonardo and Splinter were dubious about the wisdom of allowing the normally-irresponsible turtle so much power, and Raphael was downright rude in his opposition of the concept, but Donatello, of course, was convinced it would work out for the best. Indeed, Michelangelo's increased empathy prevented him from misusing his new gifts at all.

Finally, Splinter's ring not only allowed him the force-field protection and construct abilities shared by all the rings, but he could also teleport at will, creating a blinding dust-storm of violet particles to hide his departure. The ninja master in Splinter appreciated the stealthy applications of such an ability. He also found if he concentrated hard enough, he could encase another being in a violet crystal, but naturally refrained from using it on his students, despite Raphael's constant outbursts.

Finally, the time came when Splinter was satisfied his newly-empowered students were capable of a trip to the surface.

"I am concerned," Splinter told his adolescent students, "about the possibility of more rings like ours out there. If they were to fall into the wrong hands..."

He didn't have to finish. The Turtles all understood the ramifications with an insight born of many difficult and strange battles.

"All right!" Michelangelo cried happily. "Let's head topside! I've been goin' stir-crazy down here all this time!"

Leonardo put a restraining hand on his excited brother's shoulder. "Hold it, Mikey. Let's not just go racing up there. We have to remember, we've got a whole new set of abilities now, and while we've been training, we still haven't been tested in a real fight yet."

Michelangelo nodded soberly. "Leo, I understand what you're saying. But seriously, with these new powers..."

He struck a dramatic pose – hands on hips, chest thrust out, eyes lifted towards an imaginary horizon, jaw clenched in an indomitable expression.

"We could be superheroes!" Michelangelo finished enthusiastically. "No longer would we be forced into hiding! We could be out there – saving lives, righting wrongs, accepting the thanks of a grateful populace -"

"Michelangelo!"

There is little more attention-grabbing than one's name said sternly by one's parent. Splinter leaned forward on his cane (now covered in some sort of iridescent violet substance).

"Have you forgotten your roots? You are ninja. A ninja sticks to the shadows, strikes hard, and fades away..."

"...without a trace," the four turtles chorused, having heard the speech a thousand times. Splinter narrowed his eyes.

"Precisely. The outside world will never accept us...no matter how much jewellery we wear. I care for you all too much to allow you to be imprisoned, or worse."

The Turtles looked at each other with raised eyebrows – Splinter was never usually that blatant about his feelings.

"Understood, Sensei," Leonardo said, bowing respectfully. "We'll be careful, and stick to the shadows, just as you said."

Raphael snorted. "Suck-up."

A glowing green sword appeared in Leonardo's hand. He didn't need to say anything; his expression said it all.

"THAT'S IT!"

Red foam bubbled from the corners of Raphael's mouth, and he sprang forward, crash-tackling Leonardo and sending them both flying. Donatello immediately reached out with his ring, cocooning the fighting brothers in blue energy.

"Calm down, guys. All will be well, really!"

"Donny, I'm gettin' real tired of you sayin' that!" Raphael snarled. Within seconds, though, the blue ring had worked its magic, and the deadly rage faded.

Splinter stroked his chin. "Hmm...now I am not certain you should go out at all, Raphael. Your anger is too easily getting the better of you."

"Aw, come on, Master Splinter, have a heart!" Raphael protested, ignoring the irony, given that he, himself, had no actual heart while wearing the red ring.

"Master, my ring seems to calm Raph down," Donatello piped up. "If I stay close to him, he might not lose control."

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Great. So I'm either stuck here, or I get to be baby-sat by Captain Optimism there!"

Ignoring Raphael's griping, Splinter thought for a moment.

"Very well. As long as Donatello and Raphael do not leave each other's sight, you may go."

Michelangelo jumped for joy, and raced for the nearest exit. "Cowabunga!"

Raphael growled. "Mikey, how many times do I hafta tell you, no 'Cowabunga'!"

The red ring began to glow, forming a pair of sai from crimson plasma. Tensing to show Michelangelo the error of his ways, Raphael caught Splinter watching out of the corner of his eye. Instantly, he relaxed, allowing the sai to dissipate.

"Heh. Sorry, Master Splinter," he mumbled, chagrined.


	5. Chapter 5: Dudes, We Can Fly!

The streets of New York were quiet for once. Being a Wednesday night, there were few nightclubs open this late, and little late-night shopping. This made the Turtles' job of getting up to the streets easier, but still, they knew from experience that one could never be too careful.

A glowing green eye slipped up through a hole in a manhole cover. The eyeball looked around cautiously, then dissolved into nothingness. Seconds later, the manhole cover slowly rose and slid aside, allowing the four Turtles to exit the sewers one by one. As if running on auto-pilot, the Turtles dashed from the manhole cover in the middle of the road to the nearest shadowy alley.

Once in the alley, they made a disheartening discovery. Their new rings made it impossible for them to blend into the shadows like true ninjas should, as they surrounded their wearers in a sheathe of glowing energy.

The Turtles looked at each other, all thinking the same thing: "Master Splinter's not going to like this".

Raphael was the first to vocalise it. "Well, that's just great. So much fer stickin' to the shadows – the shadows don't stick to us!"

Donatello shrugged. "Don't worry, guys – all will be well. We've just gotta improvise, that's all. Let's take to the rooftops."

Leonardo gripped the rung of a nearby fire escape's ladder.

"Good thinking, Donny. No one in this city ever thinks to look up."

The other Turtles followed Leonardo's lead, making their way to the rooftops as silently as possible (they figured if they couldn't hide from sight, they might as well be quiet about it). Halfway up, Michelangelo's foot slipped on a particularly slick fire escape, and he fell backwards. He shrieked in surprise and alarm, attracting the attention of his brothers.

"Mikey!" Leonardo shouted in concern, immediately generating a large green hand to catch his brother. But the hand went unused, as Michelangelo suddenly stopped falling and floated in mid-air.

Michelangelo opened one eye, which had until this point been tightly closed to prevent him seeing his demise, then the other. Realising he hadn't been introduced to the ground in a painful manner, the turtle whooped for joy.

"Dudes, these things let us _fly_!" he shouted gleefully. "Awesome!"

Michelangelo shot skyward from the cramped alley, the better to show off his new-found disrespect for the law of gravity. While Michelangelo skylarked, the other Turtles tested if their rings could do the same.

They could.

"Well, that's gonna save a lot of time," Donatello commented brightly.

Leonardo nodded. "Let's head over towards the Shredder's headquarters, see if we can find any Foot or Purple Dragon activity."

"Yeah," growled Raphael, "I'm in the mood to bust some skulls!"

Michelangelo went to make a quip along the lines of Raphael always being the mood to bust skulls, but a small, soft voice inside him whispered that such a comment wasn't very nice, and it wasn't Raphael's fault he was so angry all the time, so he kept his quip to himself.

It wasn't long before Leonardo spotted strange flashes of yellow light coming from a darkened street. That wasn't unusual in and of itself, as most streets in New York were dark at this hour of night, but there was a peculiar quality to the yellow light.

"Guys, check it out!" Leonardo pointed to the alley in question. "Could be trouble."

"Bring it on!" snarled Raphael, making a beeline for the alley. The other Turtles followed him, not so much to join in on the action as to make sure Raphael didn't get too carried away.

The Turtles weren't entirely sure what to expect, but they were used to seeing a lot of strange things. What they saw in the alley alarmed them.

Two of the Shredder's Foot Ninja were robbing an armoured car, but there was something different about them. Instead of their standard garb, the ninja wore black bodysuits with sharp yellow panels pointing downward, glowing yellow lenses in their facemasks, and banded bracers with silver circles in each band. An elaborate design was emblazoned over the normal three-toed Foot symbol situated on the ninjas' chests. On each ninja's right hand, a yellow ring, quite similar to those worn by the Turtles, glowed malevolently.

The Foot Ninjas noticed the presence of the Turtles, and fired beams of yellow energy at them. The Turtles dodged easily, and immediately set to counter-attacking.

Leonardo's ring conjured up green shuriken, their shape a little reminiscent of the symbol on his chest, which flew straight and true towards the Foot Ninja. The ninjas' rings flashed, and formed yellow shields to block the green shuriken.

"Enough a' this crud!" Raphael bellowed, charging forward with wicked-looking sai gripped tightly in his fists. From his mouth spewed corrosive red napalm, dissolving the Foot Ninjas' yellow shield like water mixing with bicarbonate soda. A second later, the Foot Ninja were knocked off their feet by Raphael's furious crash-tackle. He raised his sai, ready to forcibly lobotomise both hapless ninja at once.

"Raph, no!" Donatello cried, reaching out with his blue plasma. "Settle down!"

Raphael turned to face his brother, his face a mask of pure, unmitigated rage. "They're Foot, Donny! Since when do we go easy on them?"

"Since we're not killers, Raph," Donatello reminded him. "That's the Shredder's way, not ours."

"But if we let 'em go, they'll just keep doin' the Shredder's dirty work!"

"We don't kill, Raph," Leonardo said firmly. "End of story."

"Oh yeah?" snarled Raphael. "Am I wrong, or didn't you once cut off the Shredder's head?"

"That doesn't count," protested Leonardo. "It wasn't his actual head!"

"We didn't know that then! Face it, Leo – you _meant_ to kill him!"

"That's _enough_!" Leonardo shouted, forming a giant green hand to push Raphael back out of his face. Raphael growled menacingly, but was stopped by a swathe of blue energy.

"Chill out, Raph," Donatello said soothingly. "All will be well."

"Um, guys?" Michelangelo piped up. "Does anyone else find it weird that Shredder's now giving his Foot goons rings like ours? Does that mean there's a 'Power Rings 'R' Us' out there somewhere, with bulk discounts for evil masterminds?"

"Good point, Mikey," Leonardo complimented his brother. Raphael snorted.

"Yeah, just like the one on yer head, shell-fer-brains..."

Raphael expected some kind of witty retort, or what usually passed for one coming from Michelangelo. Instead, the orange-banded turtle just shook his head.

"It's okay, Raph – I feel sorry for you. It can't be easy being angry all the time."

Raphael's upper lip began to curl into a scowl, but he was still enveloped in Donatello's blue light, so the anger subsided as quickly as it had risen.

"What do you say we go pay the Foot a little visit?" Leonardo suggested.

"Agreed," said Donatello. "If Shredder's got a ring like ours, the world could be in serious trouble."

Raphael nodded. "Mikey with a power ring I can handle, but Shredder? I'm gonna go over there an' take that ring from him however I can! An' if that means he loses a hand..."

"Raph, cool it!" barked Leonardo. "We get in, find out what's going on with these yellow rings, and get out so we can form a plan with Master Splinter. We are not going to take on the Shredder without a plan!"

"I dunno, Leo," Michelangelo said nervously, "ol' Shred-Head's kicked our shells pretty good in the past without any power ring."

"Don't worry, Mikey," Donatello said encouragingly. "All will..."

"_Don't_ say it, Donny! Seriously!" Raphael warned. Donatello shrugged.

"I was gonna say, 'All will work out fine', that's all." 

* * *

><p>Oroku Saki's building always looked perfectly ordinary, except for the Japanese architecture that stood out like the proverbial sore thumb between the massive glassy skyscrapers surrounding it. Only a select few knew the truth of what lay behind those innocent-looking pagodas.<p>

The Turtles sat crouched on a nearby rooftop, hoping their glowing auras wouldn't be spotted by any Foot sentries.

"Okay, now remember," Leonardo whispered, "we get in, try to see how the Foot have managed to get hold of these rings, and get out. Got it?"

"I still think we should be going to kick the Shredder's butt," grumbled Raphael.

"We don't know much about these yellow rings yet, Raph," Donatello said. "We don't know what emotion they're powered by, or how they interact with ours."

"Yeah," Michelangelo chimed in. "They might be, like, our kryptonite or something!"

"And that's why we're just doing recon," Leonardo said resolutely. "Mikey and I will go in. Don, you and Raph keep a lookout, and contact us via Shell-Cell if anything happens."

"Forget that, Leo," Donatello said earnestly, using the same tone of voice as when he was about to unveil some new piece of technology he'd cobbled together. "I think we can use our rings as communication devices. Just create the earpiece, and _voila_!"

The other Turtles did as Donatello said.

"Okay, wish us luck," Leonardo said before flying over to the pagoda nearest them. Michelangelo gulped nervously.

"Yeah...we're gonna need it!"


	6. Chapter 6: The Shredder, But Better!

"But, Master Shredder, you must let me examine the rings! Think of all I could do with them!"

He couldn't quite see it behind the all-concealing helmet, but Baxter Stockman was sure the Shredder was sneering at him. It seemed the Shredder was always sneering at him.

"Silence, Stockman!" the Shredder bellowed. "Why should I let you examine things of such incredible power? They are self-contained – there is no need to apply their power to any other device!"

To demonstrate, the Shredder created a yellow construct of a deadly-looking ninja, bristling with weapons.

"You see? My new Fear Clan ninjas are far more powerful than anything you could create!"

Baxter took a step back. He was used to being intimidated by the Shredder – in fact, it had become practically a daily occurrence – but over the last week, it seemed that he took greater pleasure in scaring the hapless scientist.

"But, Master..."

The Shredder whirled, his eyes flashing balefully. "SILENCE, WORM!"

The yellow ring on the Shredder's left hand sparked and began to form a new construct. Baxter's eyes widened as he saw it coalesce, and he threw his robotic arms up in front of his face reflexively. "No! Not that! Anything but that!"

The yellow construct had taken the form of the Shredder methodically tearing Stockman to pieces. This had, in fact, happened to Baxter over his time working for the Shredder, ever since the failure with the Mousers what felt like a lifetime ago. Despite his arrogance, Baxter truly feared the Shredder, and even though he was now just a brain in a robotic body (and what a body!), he was still secretly terrified that the Shredder would find new and agonising ways of punishing failure. The Shredder had worked out that his new yellow ring created constructs of whatever its intended victim feared the most – a very dangerous thing in the hands of one as fiendish and cruel as Ch'rell.

"C-could I at least have one of the rings to use, Master?" Baxter asked, looking pathetically at the Shredder like a puppy desperate for some affection. "I could be a great asset to you in battle, what with my superior intellect!" he said with a bit of the old arrogance.

The Shredder's response was to create a large spiked gauntlet and backhand the cybernetic scientist into a wall.

"Remember your place, Stockman! I choose who has power, and who does not!"

With that, the Shredder strode off, confident he had made his point.

As Baxter picked himself up from the floor, a soft, raspy voice whispered to him.

"Why should he have it all?" the voice murmured seductively. "You're so much smarter than the Shredder! You should have the ring!"

Baxter smiled. Yes, he _should_have the ring. Oh, the things he would do with such power!

* * *

><p>Leonardo and Michelangelo hovered inside a vent, hoping it was the right place to find out more about the Foot's new source of power. Below them, a gang of ninjas were being taught how to use their new accessories, courtesy of the man-mountain known as Hun.<p>

"The rings use your opponents' fear against them!" Hun barked at them like a drill sergeant. "Fear is the way of the shadow warrior! The more fearsome you can be, the more powerful you will be!"

"'There is no fear in the dojo'..." Michelangelo quipped, earning a stern look from his brother.

"Now," Hun continued, oblivious to the observant reptiles overhead, "show me how fearsome you can be!"

The ninjas paired up, taking it in turns to frighten each other with yellow constructs.

"Fear..." Leonardo breathed. "That's what the yellow rings use."

A soft yellow glow grabbed his attention, and for a moment, Leonardo was worried they'd been found. But in truth, it was Michelangelo, his ring copying the yellow rings' energy.

"Leo..." Michelangelo's eyes were wide with anxiety. "I don't know how to stop it!"

The Fear Ninja and Hun all looked up, as if sensing Michelangelo's fear. Almost as one, they fired yellow beams at the vent, destroying most of the ceiling and revealing the not-so-covert Turtles.

"The Turtles?" Hun cried. "When will I ever be rid of you freaks?"

Leonardo touched the green earpiece his ring had created. "Donny, I think we're going to need your help! Can you home in on our location?"

Donatello's voice came back through the earpiece, just as clear as if the brainy turtle were standing (or rather, hovering) right beside him. "No problem, Leo – stand by..."

Within seconds, a red-tinged blur smashed through the wall. Raphael floated there, looking furious, with red napalm starting to drip from the corners of his mouth. Donatello followed, his blue glow much calmer and softer in comparison to Raphael's searing red aura.

"Get them!" Hun shouted, falling into unfortunate cliché. The Fear Ninja surged forward, rings blazing with yellow power, and the Turtles rushed to meet them.

Raphael could no longer restrain himself, and let loose a stream of scarlet napalm from his mouth. The corrosive fluid hit several ninja in the face, burning through their facemasks and epidermis within seconds. But where those comparative few fell, more took their place.

Leonardo tried blasting the ninja away with green energy beams, but something just didn't feel right about it. His will reshaped the green energy into twin katana, and a pleased grin spread across his face. He was less pleased when the Fear Ninjas' auras seemed to resist his green blades.

Donatello, on the other hand, found no resistance from the yellow energy. Indeed, his blue power seemed to be draining the yellow rings dramatically. He had created a bo staff from the blue plasma, and was using it to knock some sense into a few Fear Ninja when he felt a large hand grab his shell roughly from behind.

"Where did you freaks get those rings?" Hun demanded, holding Donatello aloft like one might hold a cat by the scruff of the neck. "How did you find out about ours? Answer me!"

"Santa gave us the rings 'coz we've been good little turtles all year!"

Hun whirled to see Michelangelo behind him, whirling his 'nok-chuks' with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Wanna see what mine does?"

Michelangelo unleashed a blast of indigo energy at Hun. The strongman staggered back, dropping Donatello and clutching at his head as if something irritating were trying to get in.

"No!" Hun yelled, trying desperately to fight the effects of the indigo light. "Get outta my head! NO!"

Donatello watched Hun with confusion. "What'd you do to him?"

"Oh, I just showed him how much he'd hurt people over the years. Y' know, like walking a mile in someone else's shoes."

Hun curled into a foetal position, whimpering like a child lost in a shopping centre. "I'm sorry...didn't know...so sorry..."

Suddenly, a blazing yellow and orange light filled the room, drawing the attention of all within (save Hun, who was still going through his Michelangelo-inflicted guilt trip). The Shredder had entered, bathed in a radiance that was at once dreadful and voracious, as if hungry to swallow up all other light in the room.

"Aw, shell," muttered Leonardo. Raphael grinned a savage grin.

"All right! The main event!"

With that, he charged forward like a freight train, trailing red goo from his mouth like an acidic streamer. As he leapt for the Shredder's throat, a large yellow hand swatted him back.

As Raphael crashed to the ground, Leonardo gripped his swords tighter, and rushed forward. The Shredder saw him coming, and smiled beneath his helmet.

"Come, Leonardo! Come and feel fear!"

Leonardo's green ring flashed, and green armour snapped into place over him, giving him the appearance of a samurai from feudal Japan. In response, the Shredder clad himself in yellow armour rimmed with orange, and generated a long, nasty-looking sword for himself.

The swords clashed with a flurry of sparks. Even though Leonardo had two swords to the Shredder's one, he seemed hard-pressed to keep his opponent from simply deflecting his blades and going straight for his throat. The Shredder saw the effort starting to show on Leonardo's face, and laughed.

"Do you feel it yet, Leonardo? The _fear_ setting in?"

Leonardo blinked twice, sweat dripping off his forehead, and his constructs started to flicker, as if on a television with poor reception.

"My ring has been secretly draining your charge," the Shredder taunted. "Soon, you will be defenceless, and all you freaks will learn to fear me!"

"Guess again, Tin-Grin!"

The Shredder looked up to see the other three Turtles, standing amid the unconscious bodies of his Fear Ninja. Red foam dripped from Raphael's mouth, Michelangelo spun his 'nok-chuks' menacingly, and Donatello just looked determined.

"Do you truly believe you four can defeat me?" the Shredder scoffed. "I am armed with not one, but _two_ rings!"

He raised his right fist, brandishing the orange ring on his middle finger.

"I will absorb your energies, take what is yours, and make you my orange slaves!"

"You just try it, whack-bag!" Raphael growled, brandishing his red sai. He threw both sai straight at the Shredder's head, but before they could connect, a tendril of orange energy snaked out and wrapped itself around the red plasma. The orange tendril squeezed, and the red sai vanished into thin air.

"What now, boastful one?" the Shredder asked mockingly. Without waiting for a reply, he launched a furious attack, hurling yellow spears and shuriken towards the Turtles while generating an orange shield to absorb their constructs.

Raphael, undaunted that his sai had been essentially eaten by the orange light, threw himself at the Shredder again, hitting and kicking with his bare fists and feet. Michelangelo struck at the Shredder with his 'nok-chuks', and tried firing his 'compassion beam' at the Shredder, hoping the reflected pain would incapacitate the villain.

For a moment, the Shredder seemed to falter, as if overcome by the weight of all the pain he had caused in his centuries of life. But the effect seemed short-lived, as the orange light of avarice cleansed all compassion from the Shredder's conscience.

Donatello send a beam of blue light towards the Shredder, and immediately, his yellow constructs started flickering.

"Hope trumps fear, Shredder!" Donatello shouted triumphantly. The Shredder scowled beneath his helmet.

"But avarice steals everything, reptile!"

A beam of orange light shot out, but was deflected by Donatello's blue aura. Donatello grinned.

"Guess hope takes care of greed too!"

"Enough of this!"

Leonardo was back on his feet. Shaky, but vertical.

"We can't win! Let's go!"

With that, he took to the air, and headed for the hole in the wall Raphael had created earlier.

"No way, Leo!" Raphael snarled. "This ends _now_!"

His red-tinged fists kept pounding at the Shredder, causing his yellow aura to crack a little each time he struck. But before he broke through the force field, a pair of orange blades formed themselves in a scissor-like configuration around his neck.

"Prepare to die, freak!" the Shredder hissed. "Then prepare to become my willing slave!"

Before he could close the scissors on Raphael's throat, a battering ram of blue and green energy slammed the Shredder into the opposite wall.

"How can this be?" the Shredder gasped. "Your ring was all but powerless!"

Leonardo held up his ring hand triumphantly. "I got a recharge while you were distracted. More than enough to do this!"

He willed his green aura to expand outward like a tidal wave, knocking away all the recovering Fear Ninja, as well as Hun, who seemed to have come to terms with the pain he had inflicted on others. The energy flowed back to him, but formed a bubble around himself and his brothers.

The green bubble then whisked itself out of the hole in the wall, and headed back to the Turtles' secret lair, despite the very vocal disagreements coming from Raphael.

"You want us to go after them, Master?" asked Hun, rubbing his sore head. The Shredder thought for a moment.

"Leave them, Hun. They will return eventually, as they inevitably do, but they will return...and they will not leave here alive!"


	7. Chapter 7: Shells Kicked

"Yer a coward, Leo!"

Blood-red fluid spilled from Raphael's mouth, sizzling as it hit the ground. He was inches away from Leonardo's face, confronting his brother the only way he knew how.

"Uh, actually," Donatello piped up, "I think that ring chose Leo because he can _overcome_ great fear..."

Raphael whipped his head around, splattering the wall with his red venom. "Keep outta this, Donny!"

"I did what I had to do, Raph, and you know it!" Leonardo defended himself. "The Shredder had us on the ropes. Every trick we had, he could counter. Don was the only one whose ring could stand up to the Shredder's, and he can't do everything!"

"We coulda taken him down!" Raphael protested vehemently. "_I _coulda taken him down! But, oh no, only Leo can be the big hero an' take down the bad guy!"

"That's enough, Raph!" Leonardo shouted, beginning to lose his temper.

"What, did I strike a nerve?" Raphael sneered. "Face it, Leo, you just don't want to lose your title of 'Turtle Who Took Down the Shredder'!"

Leonardo's lips pulled back into a formidable grimace, and his ring-generated swords began to shimmer into his hands. Before they could form completely, though, Donatello interposed himself between his bickering brothers.

"Guys, chill out! All will be well!"

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Say that one more time, Don, an' all _won't_ be well fer you, got it?"

"Raphael!"

Splinter had finally come to see what all the fuss was about.

"I take it your trip to the surface was eventful."

Splinter was not only a master of ninjitsu, it seemed, but a master of sarcastic understatement.

Leonardo quickly filled the wise old rat in on the night's events, with pointed comments from Raphael about how things _should_ have gone. When the tale was finished, Splinter sighed and shook his head.

"If the Shredder controls such power, then he must be stopped, or the entire world is in great peril."

"But, Master," Michelangelo protested, "he kicked our shells big-time! How can we beat him?"

"Good question..." an unfamiliar voice sounded.

The Turtles and Splinter whirled to face a group of seven beings, each wearing a different colour of the rainbow. More importantly, they were all wearing identical rings to those worn by the mutants and the Shredder.

"More importantly," the unfamiliar voice continued, now showing itself to belong to a brown-haired man clad in a green and black uniform similar to that worn by Leonardo who somehow reminded the Turtles of Captain Kirk from _Star Trek_, "how did you all get these rings in the first place?"

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


End file.
